Support

A cookie is a piece of data stored by your browser or device that helps websites like this one recognize return visitors. We use cookies to give you the best experience on BNA.com. Some cookies are also necessary for the technical operation of our website. If you continue browsing, you agree to this site’s use of cookies.

Marketing Services

Bloomberg Next marketing services allow clients to elevate their brands and extend their reach through our established and trusted expertise, enhanced with engaging event production, appealing design, and compelling messaging.

Labor News on Tap

Stuck inside of Crystal City with the election blues again | Questions for Chris Lu | Congressional Committee Carousel

Welcome to the pilot edition of our weekly column. We’ll be using
this space to comment on the major labor and employment developments we’re expecting
each week, preview what we’re in the midst of reporting, and maybe even float a
few rumors. This is still a work in progress. So we welcome your feedback on
what you want to hear about--be it Chris’s advice on the best spot in the
Capitol for staking out Lamar Alexander or Ben’s search for a racquetball partner at
the Frances Perkins Building. Fire away over email: copfer@bna.com and bpenn@bna.com, or on Twitter: @ChrisOpfer and @BenjaminPenn.

In our official
capacities, Ben reports on the Labor Department and Chris covers a little bit
of everything else. This column marks our foray into uncharted territory. If we
veer too far out of our lane, feel free to send help.

Chris Opfer: Election Day is less than 24 hours
away. On Wednesday morning, we’ll wake up to a new president-elect (er … probably).
We’ll also have a better idea of who’s going to be running the show in Congress
for the next two years.

Baseball
fans call the time after the World
Series and before pitchers and catchers report to spring training the hot
stove league. That’s when insiders, stat geeks and Vegas sharps trying to pick
the next winner gather round the heating element to swap rumors about which
teams are firing their managers, which players are likely to be traded and whether
this is finally the year Fox Sports does us all a favor by putting Joe Buck out to pasture.

Here at
Bloomberg Law headquarters, just over the river from the Capitol, we haven’t
needed the stove much. Still, the prognosticating is heating up about who’s going
where in 2017. Post-election moves will not only bring new blood to the White House, but also change some players at the Labor Department, the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. We don’t know who will
steer the ship at those agencies, but that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate
about what they’ll do when they get there.

Ben Penn: Chris, does this mean we're now
pundits? I should point out that perhaps we’re
skipping a step talking about a possible labor chief. White House personnel
could be selected before Cabinet secretaries, and there will be some
labor-related openings, such as in the Domestic Policy Council. Whoever is
appointed to that won’t assume the public profile of a labor secretary, but he
or she will help shape the executive branch's workplace agenda for the next four
years.

For a
Clinton White House, California Labor Commissioner Julie Su has
already been floated to lead DOL (more
on that here). We’ve also heard some chatter
about Ed Montgomery, who was Bill
Clinton’s deputy labor secretary and is now dean of Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy. Surely not
coincidentally, Montgomery’s on leave from the Hoyas until after the election. If
you want to tell us what you’ve been up to, Dean Montgomery, you know how to
contact us. Also, could former Democratic Education and the Workforce Committee
Chairman George Miller be ready to
come out of retirement and return to Washington?

I’d rather
play craps at one of Trump’s casinos than place money on who’d be tapped as his
labor secretary if he wins. He’s kept us in the dark on DOL policy specifics,
outside of briefly calling for a small business carveout from the overtime
rule.

It’s fair to
assume a President Trump would take a far more hands-off regulatory approach.
He’d probably return to the Dubya era of business partnerships and less
stringent enforcement. Trump could look to a CEO-type for labor chief. Whoever
it is, he or she likely wouldn’t be as simpatico with
unions as the guy currently running the show.

There’s
another name Clinton could consider, maybe just to hold down the fort
temporarily. And he already has an office at DOL: current Deputy Labor Secretary Chris Lu.

Before
arriving at the agency in 2014, Lu had an interesting career arc – he was legislative
director for Senator Barack Obama, executive director of candidate Obama’s
presidential transition and then the president’s primary liaison to all Cabinet
secretaries.

What’s his
next move? Well, I caught up with him last week and asked him just that. Lu chose
not to announce his next job in this forum. But he did shed light on the DOL’s
transition plans, which he’s heading up.

BP: Enforcement
of the DOL’s controversial overtime regulation begins 23 days after the election, amid attempts to halt it in court
and in Congress. How might that affect the transition process?

Lu: “We
would start enforcing that on Dec. 1. I know this is a trite thing to say, but
there’s only one president at a time. So as long as this president is in
office, we will be defending our regulations in court and should they go into
effect, we’ll be enforcing them. I can’t predict what the next secretary or the
next president will choose to do.”

BP: What’s the
status of DOL projects left in the docket that you might have run out of time
to complete?

Lu: “I
really believe that one of the foremost issues of our time is the issue of
income inequality…As we consider what the role of workers is in the 21st
century, the Department of Labor can be an important contributor to that
dialogue – through our grant funding, through our regulations, through our
enforcement actions.”

Ben Penn: My take – no
matter who’s in the White House, DOL is still collecting data to play catchup
on modern workforce trends, and the next DOL will need to adapt accordingly.

Chris Opfer: Ben, there’s also going to be a fair
bit of shuffling on the two congressional
committees that oversee worker issues on the hill.

Just about
everyone expects Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) to take over the House Ed/Workforce Committee reins from retiring John Kline. Susan
Davis (D-Calif.) has emerged as the front-runner on the other side of the aisle
to take Bobby Scott’s (Va.) committee leadership gig if Scott splits for Tim
Kaine’s Senate seat.

The game of
thrones going on in the Senate is a little trickier to handicap. Lamar
Alexander (Tenn.) is largely expected to stay on as the HELP Committee’s leading Republican. That is, unless he manages to
get himself tapped for Appropriations chairman or ranking member. Richard Burr (N.C.)
would be next in line in terms of Republican HELP seniority, but it’s still not
clear whether the man leading the fight against socks in D.C. can get himself re-elected.

The biggest
question for HELP Democrats is whether Patty Murray will stick around or hop
the next train to the Appropriations Committee. Murray, a former preschool
teacher, is said to really like the HELP portfolio. But a chance to manage the
purse strings might be too tough to pass up. Former presidential candidate and Larry David impersonator Bernie Sanders (Vt.) has already said he wants
Murray’s committee leadership seat if it opens up. Bob Casey (Pa.) may also
have something to say about that.

In the
meantime, all the outgoing Congress has to do is come up with a way to keep the
lights on at Uncle Sam’s place before the current government funding runs out in mid-December. And argue about the
overtime rule. And maybe vote on the TPP.
Should be no sweat.

We’ve got a
few pre-election parties to try to sneak into, so we’re punching out for now. See
you back here next Monday morning. (Daily Labor Report subscribers, you can get the full story on the
election throughout the week.)

Bloomberg Law® helps labor and employment law practitioners
provide rapid, accurate and complete advice to clients by bringing together
trusted, market-leading Bloomberg BNA content like Daily Labor Report®
and treatises like Covenants Not to Compete: A State-by-State Survey and
The Developing Labor Law, with a fully integrated, innovative legal
research platform. Click
here to request a free trial.

All Bloomberg BNA treatises are available on standing order, which ensures you will always receive the most current edition of the book or supplement of the title you have ordered from Bloomberg BNA’s book division. As soon as a new supplement or edition is published (usually annually) for a title you’ve previously purchased and requested to be placed on standing order, we’ll ship it to you to review for 30 days without any obligation. During this period, you can either (a) honor the invoice and receive a 5% discount (in addition to any other discounts you may qualify for) off the then-current price of the update, plus shipping and handling or (b) return the book(s), in which case, your invoice will be cancelled upon receipt of the book(s). Call us for a prepaid UPS label for your return. It’s as simple and easy as that. Most importantly, standing orders mean you will never have to worry about the timeliness of the information you’re relying on. And, you may discontinue standing orders at any time by contacting us at 1.800.960.1220 or by sending an email to books@bna.com.

Put me on standing order at a 5% discount off list price of all future updates, in addition to any other discounts I may quality for. (Returnable within 30 days.)

Notify me when updates are available (No standing order will be created).

This Bloomberg BNA report is available on standing order, which ensures you will all receive the latest edition. This report is updated annually and we will send you the latest edition once it has been published. By signing up for standing order you will never have to worry about the timeliness of the information you need. And, you may discontinue standing orders at any time by contacting us at 1.800.372.1033, option 5, or by sending us an email to research@bna.com.

Put me on standing order

Notify me when new releases are available (no standing order will be created)